Syrian army closes in on IS's largest remaining stronghold

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Footage, released by the Syrian government's military media unit on Wednesday, showed soldiers carrying Hezbollah and Syrian flags standing near Albu Kamal and tanks and armoured vehicles moving through the desert.

The caption of the video said the footage showed members of the Syrian army meeting with allied Iraqi forces at the border between the two countries near Deir al-Zor.

Syria's army and its allies have surrounded and started to enter Albu Kamal, the largest town Islamic State still holds in Syria and Iraq, the pro-Hezbollah al-Manar television reported on Wednesday.

Islamic State's caliphate has been all but destroyed over the past two years, remaining only in Albu Kamal in Syria and Rawa in Iraq, in a few neighbouring towns and patches of desert, and some isolated pockets elsewhere.